ATHENA Software Plan
====================

.. figure:: ../_images/athena_software_collage.png
   :alt: Software plan
   :width: 800


Philosophy
----------

**Let’s prepare for our future at the EIC!**

Software and computing will be critical to the success of any EIC experiment. Our strategy to acomplish this and ensure the long-term success is by building a forward-looking team of developers. We focus on modern scientific computing practices: modularity, orthogonal components designed for performance in heterogeneous computing environments. Our emphasis is on modern development practices built around continuous-integration, reproducible containerization and automated tests and benchmarks. At the same time, we try to choose mature, well-supported, and actively developed software components allowing us to focus our resources on those parts of the toolkit requiring custom development work.

Summarizing: 

- Build forward-looking team of developers to ensure the long-term success of the EIC scientific program in software & computing.
- Focus on modern scientific computing practices
   - Strong emphasis on modular orthogonal tools
   - Integration with HTC/HPC, CI workflows, and enable use of data-science toolkits
- Avoid “not-invented-here” syndrome, and instead leverage cutting-edge CERN-supported software components where possible
- Build on top of mature, well-supported, and actively developed software stack.
- Externalize support burden where possiblе
- Actively work with the EICUG SWG to help develop and integrate community tools for all collaborations.